Man in custody after a standoff at the Lowe’s in Plainville

PLAINVILLE -- A man is in custody after Plainville Police said he was found holding a gun behind the Lowe's at a busy shopping plaza.

Police first got a 911 call for two shots fired behind Lowe's and that is when multiple agencies rushed to the scene and tried to get the man give up what they believed was a gun.

"There must’ve been about 35, 40 cops over there with their guns drawn pointed down towards the back of the building," said Michael Sanders of New Britain.

Sanders said he had plans to go see a movie at the AMC Theater when his attention turned to the amount of police cars and SWAT teams.

That is when police sent out a text message to alert everyone to tell people to evacuate the area immediately. Seconds later is when nearby stores were closed and parking lots became empty.

"Scary for the public especially when the cops went into Dick’s Sporting Goods because there’s a lot of guns and firearms and ammunition inside," added Sanders.

Sergeant Mark Connoy said they tried multiple times to negotiate with the man who was swaying back and forth at the loading dock area and not replying to officers' commands.

"We do not know anything about the individual that we have now in custody. He had no identification on him and he’s still nonverbal at this point," added Sgt. Connoy.

Hours later is when police said they were able to use a beanbag shotgun to bring the man down that is when they learned the gun was actually a plastic handgun.

"He’s going to go up to the hospital to get treated for his injuries. We’re going to determine if there’s any mental conditions that we need to address and then we’re just going to work on finding a motive - what the reason was," added Sgt. Connoy.

On Saturday morning, police identified the man as Eduardo Rivera, (DOB 01/05/74), of New Britain. The handgun was retrieved and discovered to be an unloaded plastic BB gun. There were no injuries to any responding law enforcement personnel or civilian in the area.

Rivera is formally being charged with Falsely Reporting an Incident 1st Degree, Interfering with an Officer, Breach of Peace 2nd Degree, Reckless Endangerment 1st Degree, and Carrying a Dangerous Weapon. He is currently being held on a $100,000 surety bond.

UPDATE: The standoff in Plainville has been resolved and everyone is okay.